Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez held a town hall in Corona, New York, at the Queens Public Library on Thursday, which concluded with an alleged constituent in distress yelling, "Eat the babies!"
Like most town halls, Ocasio-Cortez reiterated her goals as the representative for New York's 14th congressional district, alongside messaging about the Green New Deal, her new "Just Society" legislation and the impeachment of President Trump.
Toward the end of the town hall question-and-answer session, the alleged constituent stood up and spoke with fervor about the state of our world and climate change.
"We're not going to be here for much longer because of the climate crisis! We only have a few months left! I love that you support the Green Deal but getting rid of fossil fuel is not going to solve the problem fast enough."
"I think your next campaign slogan has to be this, we got to start eating babies."
At that point, the woman removed her coat and pointed to her t-shirt, which said "Save the Planet, Eat the Children". The t-shirt appeared to be homemade.
Ocasio-Cortez posted a couple of tweets in response to this incident, saying the person in question might have been suffering from a "mental condition".
This person may have been suffering from a mental condition and it’s not okay that the right-wing is mocking her and potentially make her condition or crisis worse. Be a decent human being and knock it off.
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 4, 2019
Twitter, of course, had a lot to say about this outburst.
I don’t know who needs to hear this right now, but do not, I repeat, do not eat the babies.
— Carol Roth (@caroljsroth) October 4, 2019
Wondering what’s going through the person’s head who had to print a T Shirt with “Eat the Babies” on it. On one hand it sounds metal AF. On the other the font was in all rainbow lettering.
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) October 4, 2019
I think @AOC handled this just fine. The woman pictured is clearly deeply, deeply ill -- jumping down her throat wouldn't have helped anything.
— Brad Polumbo 🇺🇸⚽️ 🏳️🌈 (@brad_polumbo) October 4, 2019
AOC has zero obligation to verbally condemn baby-eating. C'mon guys. We all know she does not support that. https://t.co/7Qzer0Lpgk
I had a bad feeling this whole keto thing was going to get way out of hand. #EatTheBabies
— Chris Eppolito (@ohjersy) October 4, 2019
Seems like a normal AOC supporter to me. https://t.co/NWVMRD0wsl
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) October 4, 2019
President Donald Trump and his son, Donald Trump, Jr. weighed in on the incident, with the President calling Ocasio-Cortez a "Wack Job!"
Better than being a criminal who betrays our country. https://t.co/UnShA6gcQQ
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) October 4, 2019
Many opponents of Ocasio-Cortez used this peculiar event to push the idea that the U.S. Representative and her constituents condone the eating of babies as an actual solution to climate change. Others believed the woman in distress was planted by the GOP.
Can someone explain to my why one crazy lady yelling "eat the babies" is enough justification for Republicans to deny years of factual climate science? Yes, she's taking Swift's Modest Proposal too far (may have been a plant even)...
— The Tesla-inator (@teslainator) October 4, 2019
If she actually beleived what she was saying, she wouldnt have covered up the shirt till then. It's completely a plant by the GOP
— Fastr (@fastr7) October 4, 2019
"By 2024 a conservative candidate will be able to legit use 'Don't Eat The Babies' as a campaign slogan," tweeted @lerias1968.
"I mean...[Ocasio-Cortez]'s right...woman is either totally insane or a troll...I'm a Trump guy but this crazy eat the babies lady doesn't mean anything" @stringer_jarrod tweeted in a conservative-leaning Twitter thread.
During the woman's outburst, people in the crowd seemed surprised by her unconventional solution to climate change, which harkened back to Jonathan Swift's 1729 satirical essay, A Modest Proposal, wherein he suggested the Irish could solve their famine problem by eating their own children, essentially killing two birds with one stone: fewer mouths to feed and more food to go around.
The response to Ocasio-Cortez's plea for compassion in this case was mostly positive, though some blamed her for the outburst by "pushing" climate change in the first place.
"And this is how you decently treat someone who is in the middle of a breakdown and does so publicly. Thank you," tweeted Pennsylvania State Representative Mike Schlossberg.
